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Just a few directors manage to evoke a “feeling” after you watch their films. You finish the film and as you reflect on it, you start noticing how messed up the film’s reality was, yet you still had fun watching it. It’s like stepping off a roller coaster. Sure, it was terrifying, but the joy of it is that you were screaming and laughing. In the end, you know that you made the right choice. This is the feeling I have for horror films from Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper, or Peter Jackson, and feel this way after watching Sylas Dall’s They Reach.
The film They Reach is set in 1979. It follows Jessica (Mary Meadaline Roe), a teenage girl who is a tomboy and is into electronics and science. Jessica has lost her brother, and is now attempting to emotionally connect with her father, who struggles to accept her nerdy lifestyle. One day while searching through a local shop, Jessica discovers a box of junk and finds an old reel-to-reel tape recorder. In an attempt of repairing the recorder, she accidentally bleeds on it, and unlocks the Sangui Demon. The demon then goes on a killing spree. Jessica has no other option but to team up with her best friends and father to defeat the demon. And how does she do it? With science.
After completing a few short films, it is now time for Sylas Dall to make good use of his writing and directing skills in his first feature film. The concept is absolutely amazing. Certainly, other films’ stories borrow lots of parts of the narrative, but he alters it just enough to make it feel new. The approach that casts children as the primary actors and narrators immediately evokes nostalgia from films such as Joe Dante’s Explorers and Small Soldiers. The decision to have the story focus on a girl and help her subvert the stereotype that girls cannot be nerdy is fantastic. You can appreciate everything the film has to offer in a single viewing, and sometimes, that’s all it takes to create a long lasting impression.
The child actors, who were the three leads in the film, performed better than the adults. I do not know if that was on purpose. As the audience, I was delighted to watch one adult after another get murdered by the demon in a truly head-exploding fashion. Most of the adult performances were fine, but a few clearly struggled with the sometimes cheesy dialogue. The camera work was also a bit flaky and felt amateurish at points, only to switch to well done shots with amazing angles and lighting. I am going to blame this on the budget issues that come with a first feature. Not everything looks remarkable, but there was certainly enough to be impressed.
On the subject of budget, most of the films gore happens offscreen, which is a common trait in lower budget films. Even though it is fun to imagine the goopy blood spray victims left behind, the creature make up in the film was dope and didn’t seem to rely on CG. One bass thing that really stood out was Carlos Garcia’s score. A significant part of the tale revolves around Jessica’s family and friends and how they relate with her. The music in this part of the story had me captivated, it felt like it was telling me the story through sound and the way I was watching it. The score by various artists was the right selection for the film and did their job perfectly. It’s the kind of movie that’s enjoyable to watch but the ending is a bit mundane.
Ultimately, I believe They Reach will remain largely unnoticed, although I wish it won’t. While it did not resonate with me as much as I hoped when watching all the 80s inspired entertainment, including Stranger Things and Summer of 84, the bittersweet theme of growing up around loss, childhood, and friendships was enough for me to finish the film with a smile and something to reflect on. It was not a perfect film by any means, but it was certainly a lot closer to being right than wrong, so I am absolutely looking forward to further work from Sylas Dall. You should definitely watch this film, however!
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